Feds face evi‘drench’

Sandy makes cases all wet

The NYPD evidence contaminated by Hurricane Sandy’s floodwaters could also affect federal cases, The Post has learned.

US attorneys are concerned that the sudden loss of evidence could affect gun and drug cases filed in federal court instead of state court because prosecutors sought stiffer penalties, sources said.

“This makes a lot of the cases impossible to prosecute,” said mob lawyer Eddie Hayes, noting that drug evidence might actually have dissolved.

The Post reported on Wednesday that thousands of pieces of NYPD evidence — from cases as severe as murder — were compromised when toxic waters from the Gowanus Canal gushed into a police facility in Red Hook and water from Newtown Creek flooded a Greenpoint building.

Both NYPD evidence centers were located in Zone A areas, which meant they were at a very high risk of flooding in a storm surge. It’s still unclear how many criminal cases could be affected.

In fact, as of Wednesday, authorities still weren’t able to inspect one of the facilities because the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration hadn’t deemed it safe for employees to enter.

“We contacted OSHA and brought them in, and they closed both facilities,” NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said. “They’re bringing in people who are specialized cleanup teams.”

And several district attorneys’ offices said they had yet to be contacted by police about which cases were affected.

“It’s a disaster,” one source said. “It’s going to take a long time before they figure out what’s been compromised.”

One police source said that up until about six months ago, evidence was logged by a manual typewriter, even further complicating the tally of affected cases.

Meanwhile, the FBI’s secure-file warehouse in North Jersey was also flooded during Sandy, sources tell The Post.

Hundreds of thousands of pages of files had to be pulled apart by hand and airdried, sources said.

Most of the files were associated with closed cases, and some were already on their way to being destroyed, the sources said.

“Very little of this was active” file material, one source said.

FBI spokesman Martin Feely also downplayed the water damage.

“No current investigations were adversely impacted,” Feely said.

But defense attorneys note that cases are routinely reopened after appeal.